To Be Understood

I found Evelyn Alsultany’s article “Los Intersticios: Recasting Moving Selves” to be very intriguing in the sense that it correlates well with the movie La Haine. One particular line was when she said, “Although it is illusory, I do identify with the humanity of the situation – the desire to belong in this world, to be understood” (209). Specifically I like the last three words; to be understood. I believe that regardless of a person’s race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, etc. we all struggle with this idea of being understood; who really gets us and what is my identity? Alsultany describes instances where she is “marked with meaning” meaning she is known not by who she is on the inside or what her own personal beliefs are, but rather by her appearance. People are constantly trying to figure out what nationality she is, what her ethnicity is, what culture she came from, etc., even though she considers herself an American, born and raised in New York City. The reason I see a similarity between this article and the movie is because discrimination just adds to the pressures of trying to be understood and figure out who we really are. When people are constantly being discriminated against it can change who they are and who they want to be. It elicits feelings of anger and hostility, which are usually uncharacteristic of a person’s character. We see this idea come full circle in the movie, especially in terms of Vinz and Hubert. Out of the three main characters followed throughout the movie, Vinz is affected most by the discrimination and actions being done by the police officers. Vinz wants to resort to violence as a way of proving who he is as an individual. He is someone who isn’t going to stand by a watch as police brutality corrupts and destroys his streets. He wants to create and image; an image that will earn him respect from his peers. Again, I feel as though our society is so worried about perception that they forget about all other facets of life.


As is the case with both the article and the movie it is hard for me to place myself in either situation. To be completely honest, I’ve never been discriminated against or asked repeatedly what my nationality is or where I came from. Furthermore, I’ve never been witness to police brutality or had any of my family or friends discriminated against. Being in the position that I am I feel sympathy for those who constantly have to answer questions and defend themselves on a daily basis like we see in the article. In the movie Hubert said, “Hate breeds hate,” and after reading these articles and seeing the way the movie developed I can see how this can be true. If I found myself trapped in either situation I would probably find myself following what Hubert said. People don’t deserve the type of treatment they receive from others because frankly it shouldn’t matter where a person is from or what type of life they live. I’m sure that at one time or another we have all felt like hate does in fact breed hate. If someone hates me or hates what I stand for then I’m going to hate them back in return. In my estimation this is what leads to society being so divided on so many things. We all have different opinions and act differently, making it hard to find any sort of continuity or common ground. Like many of the other topics we have discussed so far this semester, discrimination just adds to the complex world we live in and the seemingly impossible struggle to ever live in a pluralistic society where people are accepting and open-minded of others.

Brian Pullyblank